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School Official Sues Over MySpace Page
SoCal writes, "How much legal liability do parents have for what their kids do online? A lawsuit filed in Texas by a high-school assistant principal may give some answers. Some students she had disciplined set up a fake MySpace page in her name depicting her as a lesbian (which she happens not to be). In its coverage, Ars Technica notes that 'What sets this case apart from many other lawsuits filed over the content of blogs is that it doesn't target only the teenagers who created the site. It also argues that the parents were guilty of negligence by failing to supervise their children, and that they bear some of the responsibility for the defaming site.'" The article links the Media Law Resource Center's resource tracking more than 50 cases now in the courts nationwide, in which bloggers have been sued for libel and related claims.
Its about time that someone puts part of the blame on the parents. Until the kids are 18, the parents are responsible for their actions. I hope the kids parents get sued into the poorhouse. Maybe it will wake up a few parents and take their kids off myspace.
Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
Crow T. Trollbot
four years ago some stupid girl in my class posted a picture of her kissing another girl.
someone coaxed me into snagging the picture and putting it on a site saying she was a lesbian before she could take it down.
i did this on my own free time after school that day.
it was supposed to be a riot. truth is, for about 15 minutes it was. then it got lame.
well, its existence started to spread. some idiots decided to print it off and post it in the hallway. yeah, that was a grand idea.
so shit hits the fan, and next thing i know i have two classmates bawling over this even though they did this to themselves. (remember, the picture was originally on one of their sites, but it was taken down. i put it back up on another.)
everyone decided to point at me, of course, and so I get called to the office. parents are pissed and are talking to lawyers. I get bitched at for being an unethical nerd, and keeps threatening me to admit i did it and apologize because they're calling lawyers.
I said "prove it."
and that was that. their lawyers supposedly said "i can't prove he did this" and wouldn't do anything for them. Hell they didn't even tell my parents about this.
I think until they have hard evidence, they need to back off on these people.